The move to later childbearing of recent decades has sparked a renewed interest in the measurement of time-trends in childbearing. Fertility measures that are adjusted for timing change have been proposed. The issue has been vigorously debated. Ní Bhrolcháin is an active contributor to this debate.
An empirical development of these ideas is being carried out within the ESRC Centre for Population Change. The work aims to address the process of delayed childbearing by describing how, in an accounting sense it has occurred. It seeks also to examine the potential causes of later and lower fertility in Britain, at the aggregate level, by applying the framework put forward by Ní Bhrolcháin and Dyson (2007).
Read more in
Ní Bhrolcháin, M.(2008).Tempo and the TFR, S3RI working paper A08/10.
Ní Bhrolcháin, M. and Toulemon, L. (2008). The trend to later childbearing: is there evidence of postponement? Chapter 8 in P. Festy and J-P. Sardon eds. Hommage à Gérard Calot. Paris: INED: 183-205.
Ní Bhrolcháin, M. and Dyson, T. (2007). On causation in demography: issues and illustrations. Population and Development Review, 33 (1),1-36.
Ní Bhrolcháin, M. and Toulemon, L. (2005). Does postponement explain the trend to later childbearing in France? Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 2005, 83-107.